PHILADELPHIA–After a red-hot weekend at the plate that featured a sweep of the Atlanta Braves, the Giants expected their offense to continue carrying the club in a hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park.

While the ballpark may be forgiving for power hitters, there was nothing friendly about the way Phillies starter Aaron Nola carved up the Giants lineup in a 4-2 defeat.

A night after Zach Eflin set a new career-high with nine strikeouts against the Giants, Nola established his own personal best with 12 punchouts and needed just six innings to achieve the feat. Nola lasted until the seventh, but retired the final three hittters he faced on a lineout and two groundouts.

The Giants whiffed at 26 of the 109 pitches the Philadelphia right-hander threw in a loss that guaranteed San Francisco’s streak of five straight series wins will come to an end. With two games left to go against the Phillies, the best the Giants can do is earn a split.

Three Philadelphia relievers combined for five more strikeouts after Nola exited, as the Giants finished with 17 strikeouts in a game for the second time this season. Prior to 2018, no Giants team had struck out that many times in a nine-inning game since 1959.

“It’s not like there’s been a meeting or anything saying that we should go at it a different way,” Buster Posey said, when asked about the trend of increased strikeouts. “Nola was pretty good tonight, he was throwing a couple of different fastballs and commanding the changeup pretty well.”

Aside from an RBI groundout off the bat of Brandon Crawford in the second inning, the Giants’ offense didn’t threaten the Phillies until the eighth when Pablo Sandoval hit the first pinch hit home run of his career, an opposite field shot to cut the deficit by a run.

A two-out walk allowed Posey to step in the batter’s box representing the game-tying run, but Posey bounced out to third base, snapping a 23-game hit streak against the Phillies that dated back to July of 2014.

While Nola induced nine swings and misses with a devastating changeup and seven more with a sharp curveball that darted out of the strike zone, Giants left-hander Derek Holland lasted five innings and allowed a pair of solo home runs.

First-year Phillies manager Gabe Kapler has developed a reputation for a quick hook and an eagerness to turn to the bullpen early in games, but it was Bochy who lifted Holland after the southpaw needed 79 pitches to navigate through five frames.

“I wasn’t tired or anything,” Holland said. “I kind of wish I would have got to go out a little bit longer but Boch went with the hotter hand and I respect that. I’m always going to respect his decision.”

Holland said both of the home runs he allowed Tuesday came on curveballs. After watching replays of his delivery, the left-hander thinks Phillies hitters were able to anticipate the pitches because he slowed down his throwing motion.

“It’s definitely kind of a tip,” Holland said. “You definitely can see it but at the same time, I’m not throwing (the curveball). It was a lazy pitch.”

With the Giants trailing 3-1 in the sixth, Bochy summoned right-hander Cory Gearrin to replace Holland. First baseman Carlos Santana entered the series with a .169 batting average and three home runs, but he greeted Gearrin with a towering shot into the right field bleachers on the fifth pitch he threw.

After the Phillies unloaded on Giants pitchers Jeff Samardzija and D.J. Snelten for four home runs in an 11-0 blowout win on Monday, San Francisco’s staff served up three additional round-trippers on a night where its hitters struggled to make contact at all.

Nine of the 12 strikeouts Nola recorded were swinging as the Giants suffered through their 17th game this season with at least 10 strikeouts.

“He had three pitches going, a good two-seamer, four-seamer, good breaking ball tonight and used his changeup,” Bochy said. “He was throwing any pitch at any time for strikes and he’s a good pitcher.”

Posey and Jackson were the only position players to strike out multiple times against Nola, but he recorded at least one punchout against every player he faced on Tuesday.

For a team that scored at least nine runs in three of their last four wins, the Giants have mustered just two runs in 18 innings to start their series in Philadelphia.

Careless mistakes once again proved troublesome for the Giants as Jackson committed an error attempting to field a double in the bottom of the third while left fielder Gregor Blanco was picked off first base with two outs in the top of the fifth.

Jackson’s bobbled a ball hit by Cesár Hernández which allowed the Phillies second baseman to take third and score on an Odubel Herrera two-out single while Blanco was caught leaning by Nola with Andrew McCutchen at the plate.

Nola nearly picked off Blanco earlier in the at-bat, but a replay review ordered by Kapler didn’t provide conclusive evidence to overturn a safe call from first base umpire Pat Hoberg. After McCutchen fell into an 0-2 hole, Nola proved he could be just as effective tossing to first as he could delivering a pitch home.

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.